Lokesh allays fears over environmental impact of data centres coming up in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh IT & HRD Minister Nara Lokesh speaking at a fireside chat organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India in New Delhi on Thursday | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Seeking to allay apprehensions on the likely adverse impacts of data centres, IT Minister Nara Lokesh said the government was adopting a holistic approach to ensure that data centre growth was environmentally sustainable. From the energy consumption point of view, the State government has set a norm that a minimum 70% of the energy used by the data centres must come from renewable sources, including solar, wind, pumped storage and battery storage, he said during his conversation with Arijit Sen at a fireside chat organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India in New Delhi on Thursday.On the water requirement of data centres, he noted that the State would meet water needs of the Google data centre coming up near Visakhapatnam through the Polavaram left bank canal. The Polavaram project was helping in using water that would otherwise flow into the Bay of Bengal.The government was incentivising data centre companies to establish desalination plants and one such facility was already being set up, he said.Addressing energy, water and other environmental requirements together was essential for sustainable development of data centres, he said, adding that the government was duly focused on it. Published - September 24, 2026 08:10 pm IST